Date: 2009-11-25
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Washington — The Obama administration welcomes the November 29 presidential election in Honduras as an important part of the country’s political reconciliation after the June 28 coup, and views it as one of several important components to help the country move forward from recent instability and isolation.
(Media-Newswire.com) - Washington — The Obama administration welcomes the November 29 presidential election in Honduras as an important part of the country’s political reconciliation after the June 28 coup, and views it as one of several important components to help the country move forward from recent instability and isolation.
Speaking November 20 at the Washington Foreign Press Center, a senior State Department official who asked not to be identified said U.S. officials “are determined to keep moving forward” in working with Honduran leaders to implement the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord that was negotiated between President Manuel Zelaya and the leader of Honduras’ de facto government, Roberto Micheletti, as well as the November 29 presidential and legislative elections.
“In our view, these all go together,” the official said. “The elections are a very important part of the package, but they’re not the whole package,” describing them as “necessary but not sufficient” to bring about national reconciliation.
The official said there will be election observers, and the United States will determine whether the vote is free and fair after the election occurs.
“It’s … important to recognize that the Micheletti regime is not running the election. Under Honduran law, the elections are run by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, a body which predates the coup, which is nonpartisan. These people were not appointed by Micheletti.” The de facto leader will also be stepping down from power between November 25 and December 2.
Under the accord, the viability of the elections was never dependent on Zelaya’s restitution, the official said. “That’s exactly what the parties could not agree to, which is why they passed it to the Congress.”
When then-Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon spoke to reporters about the accord October 30, he described the restitution issue as being “up for grabs” in the legislature.
“I can assure you that both sides are reaching out to members of [the Honduran] Congress right now and trying to build levels of political support that will favor the outcome that each of them would prefer. But I think what’s important here is there is broad expectation that they will abide by whatever that decision is,” Shannon said.
The senior State Department official said November 20 there is “a very strong sense” that the Honduran people want to vote. “They want to move forward and put this period behind them.”
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, with an average gross domestic product of $1,300 per capita. “We all want to get to a point where we can help this country get back to an agenda of greater social justice, social inclusion, engagement with the rest of the region and its economy,” the official said.
RESTITUTION VOTE TO OCCUR DESPITE SETBACKS
After the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord was announced October 30, Zelaya pulled out of the process to set up a national unity government. The senior official said Zelaya was angry that Micheletti had presented “sort of a summons” or a list of names, and viewed the de facto leader as trying to “head up that government.”
However, “it’s not correct to say that because of that, the accord fell apart,” the official continued, as evidenced by the Honduran Congress’s decision to vote December 2 on Zelaya’s restitution. In doing so, the Congress “is going to comply with the most sensitive element of the accord. … In other words, the accord is still valid.”
The Honduran Congress has said it will be a “live, televised debate with open voting, no secret ballot,” the official said.
In addition, other parts of the accord are moving forward, such as the establishment of a verification commission made up of foreign diplomats to oversee implementation, and plans to set up a truth commission. “We’ve seen in other countries which have had political turmoil that a truth commission can be a very, very important way to move forward and yet open up the past,” the official said.
The Obama administration has criticized the de facto regime for human rights abuses since it assumed power after the June 28 coup. “We have said repeatedly to the regime that they are to be held accountable for the actions that violate abuses,” the official said.
The June 28 coup was “an unlawful interruption of power,” and the United States believes it is “very important to send the signal that coups should be part of the past and not part of the present and future in our region or anywhere in the world.”
“We’ve been very, very clear about that from the very beginning of this,” the official said.
The Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord is “a package of steps to reassert the principle and also help the country move forward, in part, through elections.”
“This is a step-by-step process. Honduras will be a different place after the election. It will be a different place after the December 2nd vote,” the official said.